Cerberus Daily News - April 2014
For canon information, see the Mass Effect Wiki page for Cerberus Daily News. This page is for CDN members' non-canon additions.''The following stories contributed by Cerberus Daily News forum members were published on the CDN newsfeed during April 2014. See the main Cerberus Daily News page for current updates. April 2014 - Week One 04/02/14 - 'CRIME Quarian murders human, claims his suit ‘made him'' ''via Demeter Daily DEMETER Horrified shoppers at the Pavonis Shopping Centre looked on as a quarian leapt on top of a man and stabbed him no less than thirty eight times with a knife hidden in one of his envirosuit’s compartments before local Alliance military police officers intervened, throwing him off the victim and restraining him on the spot. The victim, 41-year old Raymond Hart, was pronounced dead at the scene. “It happened so fast,” said Karen Hart, the victim’s daughter. “He was pointing out the billboards that hadn’t been updated in three years, and all of a sudden he was getting dragged down and… stabbed.” Despite dozens of eyewitness accounts, the victim was carried off claiming that he was innocent, shouting that his suit ‘made him do it’ and that he ‘remembered nothing’ about the crime itself before Alliance officers pushed him into a detention vehicle. Such claims are doubtful to protect him from prosecution, local police officials remarked. 04/03/14 - POLITICS Geth Consensus Sponsoring Privateer Action in the Far Rim via Tayseri Times ' SALKAYIID-APEX' Political shockwaves from the Perseus Veil today as the geth Consensus formally announced the issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprise for operations in the Far Rim to approximately five dozen private interests. These include, but are not limited to the Golden Armada under the command of Grand Gaslai Teseran Rescorix, Wǔshì Securities 1st Skirmish Battlegroup under the command of Captain Nianzu Zhao, the Vasarah Thousandfold under the command of the three Cancilak Canshol, and the Lady Mirth and attached flotilla under the command of Captain Eolosh Viis. A geth self-identified as Sultan outlined the general terms of the arrangement during the announcement; “Awarding of additional non-credit payment (ie. Consensus designed augmentative protocols, weaponry, naval technologies, and mineral resources) contingent upon scope of prizes claimed by active parties coupled with adherence to legal terms and conditions. Exceptional performance in the course of duty carries high probability of appropriate acknowledgement (ie. controlled technologies and Consensus military support in the course of sponsored assignment). Violation of terms and conditions will invite censure and/or Consensus legal or military intervention depending upon severity of infraction.” Speculation in the wake of the message has been intense and fiercely divided with many, including notable political analyst Lloyd Shadlow calling the move nothing short of an outright Consensus-led incursion into the Nemean Abyss. “It’s a reclamation, an affirmation of their sovereignty, and low risk military expedition all in one. It’s divide and conquer in it’s most basic form and, frankly, it's frightening at how well it’s already working. Sixty of some of the most powerful and influential Nemean-based groups and people in the Far Rim are already on the their leash,” he said in an interview. Others have dismissed the announcement as nothing more than political experimentation. “The geth had their own scars from the War, but they're not so far gone that they could not spearhead their own expeditionary force if they were so inclined. Particularly considering the degree of disorganization, division, and in-fighting endemic to the Terminus and the Abyss,” said Magsaitha Basolcus of the well regarded Hierarchy program The Front Lines. “To me, it looks like they're putting out feelers. They're cultivating some influence in a less restricted environment, building a portfolio, and weighing the outcomes.” The quarian Conclave has been called to convene in accordance to the news. They have yet to issue a statement on the licensing of naval irregulars or the offering of the Rimward military network known as 'The Bestiary' as a port of call for the privateers. '''04/03/14 - SCIENCE Girr-6 declared Reaper technology testing site via Popular Discovery EXPANSE Hanging five billion kilometers away from the lonely red dwarf star of 2108 Girr, Girr-6 is a planetoid hiding amidst the system’s largest asteroid belt. Lacking in minerals, element zero, or atmosphere, there’s very little that could be said to be remarkable about it: until now. After a year of hard work by Council science authorities, Girr-6 is now the site of a 'technological quarantine zone', an isolated testing bed for the vast stockpile of Reaper technology collected during the events of the war, but deemed too dangerous to study. Now, such technology has a place to go outside of the cement-paved vaults they were otherwise destined to disappear to. The facility itself runs five hundred meters into the planetoid’s surface, shielded from the harsh surface and constant meteor bombardment far underground. Still, many have the same question on their mind: is it safe enough? Many pundits have their doubts, like one Gregory Wang. “We all understand what indoctrination is, and how it can happen, even the most inert fragment of a Reaper threatens influence. Maybe the Reapers aren’t a threat anymore, but are we sure that the indoctrination field has been rendered equally benign? If we were, then I don’t think this facility would have had to have been made.” A question that Girr-6’s staff claim to be taking quite seriously. “Our researchers are rotating every four months. As far as we understand the indoctrination field, mental symptoms only begin to manifest after extended exposure over long periods of time, and empirical evidence tells us that four months is well below that threshold,” claimed Head Researcher Narra Jaebrin. “Regardless, our team of therapists are some of the best in the galaxy, and regular sessions will be mandatory for our staff. Make no mistake, safety is our primary concern regarding this facility - regulations are posted on every working space in the site, and all handled technology is sealed away four-hundred and fifty meters from living spaces and handled with tele-operated drones.” Of course, that’s not the only safety concern that’s being considered. To many, Girr-6 is a lantern to a swarm of hungry moths, and the promise of Reaper technology is certain to draw much unwanted attention. To that, Captain Metril Pentus said, “... we chose Girr-6 for a reason. It’s not just a barren rock, it’s a barren rock that’s hard to hit. It’s in the middle of the system’s biggest, densest, and most dangerous asteroid belt, so getting close demands a lot of coordination with the base’s tele-navigation station. Not to mention, we’re standing by at the relay. Anyone who isn't supposed to tries to get through, they’re getting shot. It’s not like we’re letting this place go unguarded.” Captain Pentus declined to reveal anything more about the defense of the planetoid. What do you think? Is Girr-6 safe? Should we even be tampering with Reaper technology? Tell us below. 04/05/14 - ENTERTAINMENT “Love and Honour” renewed for public vidcast via Channel Surfers PALAVEN With the coming season of entertainment, the Hierarchy Vidcast Network announced that “Love and Honour”, the wildly successful and notoriously saucy soap opera about the forbidden love of a turian separatist and a Hierarchy loyalist on the fictional planet of Karitas, is clear for renewal next month. Director Cassus Eada voiced his excitement over getting to return to the show, explaining that the new season would explore Karitas’s struggle for normalcy after the ‘attack of the Dark Ones’, and perhaps exploration of the separatist lead, Valkis Noct’s, troubled past. Though the news is alternately exciting and eye-rolling for many, some see deeper meaning in the announcement. As sociologist Cassandra Wyatt says: “The Hierarchy has made no secret over wanting to encourage reproduction and intimacy among its' citizens, but it’s a message that’s curiously stayed out of most of its’ public programming. Anyone with even cursory knowledge of Love and Honour will tell you that the Hierarchy’s social intentions are plain on its’ sleeve.” 04/06/14 - POLITICS Tuchankan Defense Fleet patrol routed by pirates via The Portrait ARALAKH The newly established "Tuchankan Defense Fleet" has hit its' first roadblock for legitimacy today, when footage of a recent krogan anti-pirate sting made its’ way on the extranet. The leak, allegedly intended to be filmed as recruitment propaganda, depicts a seemingly routine sortie go awry: a krogan patrol flotilla of Kalanda-class frigates sent to engage a handful of pirate vessels is promptly brutally outmaneuvered, and left behind as their prey escapes. “It was a mess,” said Tarvin Karyx, a freelance military consultant and thirty year veteran of anti-pirate operations along the Traverse. “Almost everything they could have did wrong, they did. They went in too close and too early. Inconsistent formation, inconsistent strategy, they seemed more at odds at each other than the actual pirates. They were using ship designs four generations more advanced than those pirates and still lost. It speaks more of a dramatic failure on the patrol effort than any brilliant choices made by the pirates". Representatives of the Tuchankan Defense Fleet have decried the leak as 'a gross misrepresentation' of the krogan navy. 04/06/14 - TOURISM Rannoch struggles with illegal tourism epidemic via Perseus Observer RANNOCH Rannoch is in the midst of fending off a very different kind of invasion recently: unwanted tourists. Just today, the Rannoch Bureau of Cultural Protection arrested seven ‘illegal tourists’ for trying to sneak into the ‘protected historical zone’ of the city of Posiran, remembered as one of Rannoch’s most beautiful cities before the Geth Rebellion. “I was here as a maiden,” objected Ruala T’Yan, speaking with us in her detention centre. “I could tell you more about Rannoch than these big-headed archaeologists trying to find the deeper meaning in a teapot. I wanted to see the city again as a matron, I don’t understand what’s the big deal.” Illegal tourism has been a booming, if off-the-grid enterprise for the past year, as a number of quarians have taken to smuggling in well-paying alien visitors attracted to the prospect of satisfying ‘forbidden’ curiosity or taking home relics from a planet untouched by civilization for three centuries. However benign their intent, the Bureau of Rannoch Cultural Protection views it as nothing less than cancerous. Lael’Ronah, a cultural archaeologist explained. “We’re in the middle of piecing together a culture that many of us never even knew we had, it’s a hard enough task without tourists running roughshod over our heritage.” Though the BRCP insists that there’s more to it than simple preservation concerns. “If we’ve declared a zone ‘protected’, it’s just as much about protecting the people visiting them, as it is about the zone itself. To take Posiran, as beautiful as it was, it was the site of one of the most brutal attacks that both quarian and geth alike saw during the events of the Morning War. There’s infrastructure that could collapse at any moment, there’s mines littered across entire streets. Anyone who’s not wary of that could be consumed in a moment. Rannoch is a dangerous place.” Still, such dangers don’t appear to intimidate the daring tourist, and every day, aerial patrols are hoisting these sightseers back. It is, however, a losing battle. “The homeworld’s big,” lamented Siri’Nala vas Rannoch, marshal of Poserin’s Cultural Protection service. “There’s fifty thousand of us on the service, and hundreds of thousands of kilometers of land that we don’t want people walking around on without our consent. Trying to keep up with that is difficult, to say the least.” April 2014 - Week Two 04/07/14 - MILITARY CDEM-PIET Spaces First Violators via Alliance News Network CDEM-PIET took harsh action today after intercepting a merchant vessel headed towards Parnack, spacing its’ first violators since the branch’s inception, three merchants and a yahg. Allegedly, after being stopped, and though apparently licensed, the vessel’s crew refused to a formal search by CDEM officers; prompting forced entry. After detaining the culprits, a search revealed crates of weapons expected to be delivered to the yahg homeworld, and a yahg itself hiding amongst the weapons. Rather than engage, officers sealed the door and depressurized the compartment, waiting an hour before recovering the corpse. All violators were promptly disposed of through the airlock. Officer in Charge Melissa D’Allaird said, “the rules are clearly established, and it needs to be understood how poorly we look at violation.” 04/09/14 - BUSINESS Interest group promotes Alliance domestic growth via The Galaxy Weekly A number of human businesses have formed an interest group for promoting use of services and products from Earth or her colonies. The Friend of Earth plans to do this by granting a seal bearing their name to all applicant enterprises and corporations who can prove that the income received will be utilized either on Earth, or on Systems Alliance-administrated colonies through wages, investments or other means that benefit economies of the worlds in question. Corporations backing the Friend of Earth include such names as Karl's Burgers, DyMaCo Interstellar, Roswell Explorations, Kaal Saunak Enterprises Ltd, Manzini Elixir, Pessoa Plc, Astra Transportation, Movedas Inc., Axonor Industries and Benton & Associates. 04/09/14 - EARTH SATAE Workers Brace for Typhoon Season via Alliance News Network INDIA Alliance reconstruction workers are gearing up for the fight against mother nature today, as typhoon season comes around the corner. For coastal reclamation teams, it’s called “eight months of rainy hell”, credited with slowing worldwide reconstruction efforts and even deaths, these typhoons slam cities that have often lost the infrastructure to resist with flooding. Worse yet, recent typhoons have been categorized by the Alliance Weather Alert as mild radiological hazards: hundreds of damaged ships crashed into Earth’s oceans and lakes and never resurfaced, their drive cores often ruptured. As a result, dust form element zero is often trapped in the rains that these storms bring. Still, Alliance reconstruction workers are unintimidated by the road ahead. Rather, they insist that it gets a little easier every year. “First year was the hardest. Felt like we were doing our best for the place, and it just kept fighting us. Couldn't get half of what we started going when winds and flooding were flattening anything we tried to set up. Doesn't help that the Reapers fried most of the meteorological equipment,” explained Abdul Shakir, a veteran volunteer worker in the Mumbai Recovery Zone. “But we managed. And we learned a little more with each storm. Last year was hard, but not nearly as difficult. We got our early warning instruments set up then. And just recently we installed the kinetic environment barriers. Any water surge hits us, any debris washes up, we’ll be ready for it.” 04/10/14 - POLICE C-SEC licenses Hahne-Kedar’s HEIMDALL mech series via Kithoi Gazette CITADEL Representatives of C-SEC and Hahne-Kedar made a surprise announcement today during a joint press conference, announcing that C-SEC had licensed Hahne-Kedar’s new HEIMDALL line of security mech for use for the next twenty years. C-SEC lauded the mech’s advanced target identification suite and modularity of the frame, praising them as features that have ‘finally given the autonomous mech a place among C-SEC’s enforcement standards’. Many are concerned over whether this deal was made out of necessity or not, however. It’s been an open secret that C-SEC, already understaffed before the war, has struggled to keep up with the station’s rapidly growing criminal element. Many cynical pundits see this as the beginning of the end of C-SEC’s notoriously rigorous application process, as one blogger puts it: “the death of the best of the best of the best”. Palon Wau, a spokesman for C-SEC was quick to dismiss such concerns: “I won’t lie, shoring up new uniforms has been an uphill struggle, but anyone who thinks this is a sign that we’re about to compromise on a millennia-long standard for excellence is reading entirely the wrong things. These mechs are meant to supplant, not replace officers. More HEIMDALLs guarding police lines or playing point to drug busts means more officers on the beat and a safer station.” 04/11/14 - CULTURE Commander’s Day Celebrations on Citadel Close Zakera, More via Citadel News Network CITADEL A massive celebration of Commander Shepard’s life shut down Zakera Ward, and spilled over into the Presidium earlier today, shutting down multiple diplomatic meetings and interrupting the Council’s daily deliberations with requests for the opening of the Commander’s file in the Archives. While representatives of the affected parties insist that they had been prepared for the possibilities and accepted the delay, leaks from several embassies and diplomatic guests suggest increased tensions. Alliance officials will not be able to offer comment until the start of business tomorrow, as today is considered an government intercolony holiday. Despite this, the mood was very positive: several shops and restaurants boasting the infamous “I’m Commander Shepard...” slogan offered heavy discounts to anyone wearing ‘Shepard Lives’ shirts, handed out by members of the namesake group over the past week, and the ‘Shepards’ Foundation has set a galactic record for the most money publicly donated to a charity organization in a single day. The Citadel Museum of History opened up an elaborate 'immersim' exhibit depicting the Commander's greatest known achievements and snapshots of her life - or at least what's been declassified of it - in what's been the busiest event in the museum's long history. Shepard sightings - and impersonators - were at an all time high, and C-Sec has doubled the amount of officers on duty, as a countermeasure for potential riots and increased Reaper cult activity on the Citadel nearing the celebrations. One arrest has already been made: a woman claiming to be ‘Lieutenant Commander Shepard’ has been detained on charges of genetic fraud and tampering with security scanners, and is expected to be handed over to the Alliance on charges of impersonating a military officer. The celebration is expected to continue into early tomorrow morning, and holovision specials are expected to run late into the night. 04/13/14 - POLITICS Narra invests to rebuild Nith solar energy array via The Basin Eye NITH Dalatrass Narra shocked the galaxy today when she declared that she would be investing skill and money into the troubled krogan reconstruction effort around Nith’s orbital solar energy array. The project, initiated as a unilateral clan effort shortly after the war, has seen setback after setback in the attempt to overcome a thousand years of engineering roadblocks. Now, with Narra money and engineers, the krogan can finally anticipate progress much sooner than they were expecting. Help is promised to come from a number of Narra dynastic corporations, including Narra Industrial Electronics, and Narra Orbital Environments. “I think it’s important to understand that not every salarian sees the krogan as a monster,” The dalatrass says. “Clan Narra understands that there’s no use holding onto a grudge - salarian lives are too short for them.” When reached for comment, krogan working on the array were only begrudgingly thankful. As Dinroth Wola put it: “we might be letting salarians in, but we sure as hell aren’t letting them out of our sight”. Estimates on when the Mantun sister particle accelerators are expected to be reactivated are vague, but the consensus agrees that it will be markedly easier than reconstructing the array. April 2014 - Week Three 04/14/14 - INTEREST Reaper scare on colony, long standoff ensues via The Colonist METEH Colonists on the salarian planet of Nurin got the fright of their life last night, when a Reaper suddenly landed from orbit just outside the city of Shalano’s limits and went still. Citizens fled their homes in strength, seeking shelter in the vast underground shelters built just for such an occasion during a much darker time, and colonial garrison forces proceeded to surround the Destroyer in a nine-hour stare-down. After nine hours and twenty eight minutes, the Reaper flew off without so much as a teeth-grinding cry, leaving the city garrison bewildered and relieved. “It was the longest nine-hours of my life,” recalls Corporal Rantai, who had been manning an armoured vehicle trained on the Reaper’s core. “Knowing that if anything went south, we’d be eaten up by that thing’s beam in an instant; it’s the smallest and most powerless I’ve ever felt”. 04/15/14 - MILITARY Hegemony SIU Military Base Uncovered via Hastad Khashk MENDURANA Investigative reporters in the employ of Hastad Khashk have confirmed that Confederacy troop ships have docked with what appears to be the remains of a Hegemony Baskha-class installation embedded in the remains of a decaying planetoid above the gas giant Mendurana. Believed to have been discovered via recovered records in bases still undergoing excavation on Camala, it is as of yet unknown exactly what is contained within the facility. However, Bashkha sites were both famous and infamous under the old regime as the domain of the Special Intervention Unit and the forces and assets contained under that umbrella. Previous Bashka sites recovered largely intact - a rare occurrence given SIU security protocols - have contained a breadth of material ranging from experimental weaponry to state controlled augmentations to high-grade surveillance technologies. It is currently unclear if the facility had been compromised prior to the arrival of Confederate forces from nearby Camala, but sources indicate that the automated defense grid had been internally disabled. At time of press the Batarian Council has yet to issue a formal statement. 04/16/14 - CITADEL Protesters demand geth be tried for 2183 attack via Journeyman Press ZAKERA Protesters picketed a local Ward conference meant to thank the geth contribution to the Citadel repair effort today, and demanded that ‘responsible’ geth be tried for war crimes committed during the Attack on the Citadel. “It makes me sick to my stomach that we aren’t just letting some of these things walk around this place, we’re thanking them for it,” says Delilah Brinkman, who lost her daughter during the 2183 geth attack. Signs were held up in front of the proceedings, including statements like ‘REMEMBER 2183’ and many photos of attack victims. Brinkman continued, “we all know that for however many 'platforms' that we shot in the attack; they all just beamed themselves back to safety. Those geth, we haven’t just let them forget the consequences, we’re kissing their feet while they do it.” When asked, geth platforms present for the event agreed that the deaths during the Citadel attack were ‘tragic’, though insisted that they were actions taken by ‘heretics’ whom were no longer a concern. 04/17/14 - POLITICS Noveria sells antimatter missiles to batarians via Esane Newsnet 15 Consternation amongst Citadel member-states at recent news of a sale between the Noveria Development Corporation and the Batarian Confederation: thirteen of Noveria’s antimatter warheads. Intended for the scuttling of rogue laboratories and more recently, Reaper invasion vanguards, recent downsizes on the planet has seen the NDC’s weapon supply tip out of proportion with the current number of leased Peak facilities. The batarians have been more more than willing to pay the slack, and Noveria has been more than willing to let them. Nine of these warheads as well as the training to deploy them are expected to be fitted and taught on the Confederation fleet and stationed aboard the last remaining Hegemony-made dreadnought, the Karak’an. Confederation officials were tight-lipped over the placement of the other four warheads, however, to no small amount of criticism from anxious Citadel powers. Batarian officials have insisted that there is no cause for alarm. 04/19/14 - OPINION “Made In Rannoch”: The Quarian Slippery Slope via Annos Reader Untouched by much of the ravages of war and most of its’ industry kept inside a time capsule, Rannoch came out of the war in a clear industrial lead to nearly every other species in the galaxy. Access to geth manufacturing methods and a collective desire among its’ people to begin working gave the burgeoning quarian government some much needed leverage, and with it, legitimacy among the galactic community. Rannoch’s factories roared to life for the first time in three-hundred years, and soon Migrant ships were being repurposed into makeshift supply freighters, shipping out vital reconstruction equipment to the likes of the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. Today, Rannoch is the galaxy’s number one supplier of room temperature superconductors, second biggest supplier of drive core frames, and a growing competitor in the realm of consumer electronic components. ‘Made In Rannoch’ are three words that people across the galaxy are seeing more and more. But a growing concern has been bubbling up to the surface for many as they stare down on the stenciled print: how far is this going to go? As far as the galaxy at large is concerned, Rannoch remains the odd man out. While they maintain a modest embassy on the Citadel, Rannoch has not applied for Citadel membership, but neither does it identify with the Terminus Systems. As many see it, the quarians are a wild-card, and few are confident that it’ll go in their favour. “There’s too much baggage in it with the quarians. They’ve been holding a grudge against the Citadel for centuries. I won’t say whether or not we deserve it, but expecting wholehearted magnanimity from them is naivety at its’ worst,” says analyst Urd Malla. “It’s a bit crazy how many eggs we’ve put into such an unpredictable basket.” The quarian’s grasp on the superconductor market cannot be overstated, and many analysts posit that such control could be the key to quarian political eminence in the future - superconductors are found everywhere today, finding application in military, consumer, and medical equipment. Narra Enri, CEO of Narra Industrial Electronics said: “By making us so reliant on their production, we’ve effectively put them into a position where they can freely control prices. We haven’t just let them take this lead, we’ve practically rolled out the red carpet for them.” Still, there’s something out there in the galaxy that Rannoch hasn’t left behind in that realm: the Salarian Union. Much as the war left Rannoch largely unscathed, most of the salarian industrial base went untouched by the Reapers during the events of the war. While salarian industrial capability has hardly benefited from geth expertise, the importance of Union superconductor forges have quite literally septupled in the past two years. With that in mind, the Union has been seeking to protect themselves from the potential pitfalls of quarian reliance, and moved quickly to enact effective tariffs on quarian-made electronic goods inside the Annos Basin. Meanwhile, exports for superconducting material have skyrocketed, largely supplying to asari, elcor, and a number of dynastic corporate interests. The quarians and salarians are in the midst of a struggle for control over a sensitive market, each seeing themselves the underdog. 04/19/14 - INTEREST Vallum Reclamation Zone sees encouraging progress via Hierarchy Colonial Feed VALLUM Better days left the city of Vallum behind a long time ago, twice devastated by forces beyond it’s control, but a new dawn may be on the horizon for the troubled capital. Recent reports have indicated that the Vallum Reclamation Zone could be well on the road for recovery. Survey reports have posted promising results regarding the state of existing infrastructure and the return of essential utilities. “It’s not pretty, but we’ve been seeing some encouraging progress over the past year. Most of the city was hardened for another Blast, and while I can’t say it helped keep off the Reapers, it’s given us a respectable starting point for reconstruction,” said Igna Ramus, one of the lead organizers in the Reclamation Zone. “Most of the water lines were buried deep, and while drawing it out has been a challenge, that’s a lot of essential infrastructure that we don’t need to worry about”. Still, he stressed that reconstruction would still take time. While many utilities were not directly damaged, they were still buried under meters of molten slag. Estimates say it could take ‘years’ before Vallum resembles its’ post cards anymore, though Ramus was quick to point out that just last year, estimates claimed that recovery would take decades. 04/20/14 - SCIENCE Kurik Process introduced to trial gardens on Earth via Valiance Weekly EARTH After two years of extensive scrutiny, the Hierarchy Health and Sciences Review Board has approved the Kurik Process for trial. In the next four or five weeks, dozens of turian communities on the surface of Earth will be receiving trial gardens for large-scale testing, and hopes are high that the Process will see full approval come a matter of months when trial crops are expected to reach maturity. Those receiving them could hardly be happier. “It’s been tough living here,” said Sudorax Lihiran, a veteran of the Battle of Earth and leader of a community of similar turians in the Nevada region, “food shipments have been unreliable as all hell, and we’ve been forced to stretch out some rations way farther than they were ever meant to go. Being able to grow our own food, it’s miraculous”. Hierarchy officials made a point of claiming that these trial gardens could be applied for, though a lengthy and thorough approval process and submission fee is expected for anyone requesting a trial garden of their own. Private interests are, of course, ineligible at this time. “With luck, it’ll make the difference that we’re hoping for,” said Dr. Kurik. “I can’t thank my human partners enough for their help making the Process possible.” April 2014 - Week Four 04/20/14 - CULTURE Asari actress snubs SATAE, accused of imperialism via The Galaxy Weekly TALLEN Asari actress Ignoi Savulo made ripples in the celebrity scene and beyond when she commented on SATAE's five-year-plan at Tallen city's open forum, leading to accusations of harboring maternalistic and imperialist attitudes towards humans. Savulo had been invited to speak at Tallen as one of the city-state's more successful 'exports' and in course of the event, discussion steered towards humanity, SATAE and Earth. She was heard saying that "we should offer all the help we could to the humans to develop their democracy on Earth, a homeworld that was still plagued by despotism in 2185. Now if ever is the time to enact lasting change and give access to Thessian democracy to humanity." While this did not raise many eyebrows at the forum, the Extranet exploded with accusations of cultural imperialism and Savulo representing the very same stagnant attitude that backfired on Thessia in the war and in its aftermath. She later defended her statements claiming that asari had had thousands of years to work out the flaws in their governance and sharing this expertise was expected of them. 04/23/14 - TECH Bent-wave quantum pulsation buoys deployed by Citadel via Next Step Media CITADEL Hundreds of thousands of extranet addicts are on the edge of their seat today, as the first comm buoy to utilize the recently developed ‘bent wave quantum pulsation’ protocol finished construction around the planet Earth today. A product of the ‘speed of light think tank’, the geth HomeSphere, ‘bent wave quantum pulsation’ is a new, highly efficient quantum transmission protocol that promises to improve extranet speeds by at least 20% at prices identical to current reception nodes. The buoy is intended to service at least ten thousand citizens on the Citadel at ‘highly competitive’ rates, claims geth platform Respite, though said that they would be open to leasing bandwidth on the buoy, as well as licensing the technology out to private interests. “We expect integration to go smoothly and without incident,” said Respite. Three other comm buoys are in the midst of construction at the moment, two of which inside the Perseus Veil, and plans for retrofit for several existing comm buoys across the galaxy are in progress. 04/25/14 - MILITARY Murder, Theft, and Corruption Uncovered in Nimbus Scandal via Tayseri Times THRESHOLD A major staging ground and departure point for Republic’s fleets and flotillas as they advance further into the contested Nimbus Cluster the city-station of Monotaklai is no stranger to ill news. Food shortages, displaced persons, and strained logistics lines have all tested the platform, a crucial part of the joint Republics-Citadel offensive, in the recent months since the Cluster’s reconnection. The threat of insurgent and pirate action has become a fact of life, with huntress cadres and security drones patrolling the streets and spires, their presence keenly felt since the Bloody Eleven bombings last month that crippled a military dock and claimed the lives of thirteen commandos. Yet even so the latest revelations, originating within the Forum halls themselves, has shaken the city to its core: Matriarch Belicaliae, the Iron Dauntress, vice-governor of the station and Chief Executive Officer of Lyoia Circlet Guild is missing, presumed dead. Potentially since her withdrawal from public discourse two months ago. But the picture that has emerged in the aftermath, painted by sources within the increasingly troubled administration of Matriarch Gincetta, is one of a broad ranging conspiracy that was active, unnoticed, since approximately the arrival of the Republics Task Force Alchii and associated private contractors. Lyoia Circlet, a Nimbus based conglomerate with interests in shipping, fiscal organization and brokerage, and armaments, is in disarray. Multiple accounts with contents totalling in the hundreds of millions are now being flagged for fraudulence, tampering, and potential embezzlement. Thousands upon thousands of interactions ranging from weapons sales to cargo shipments to investments have come under investigation under suspicion by government inspectors as a mask for illicit activity. The mass investigation, one of the largest in the Cluster’s history, was prompted by the flight of Belicaliae’s inner circle and support staff. Many taking with bearer bonds, mineral wealth, and executive keyed chits which are confirmed to have been activated. In their wake: physically gutted servers, virus corrupted records, and the ruins of what is believed to have been an extensive information network that stretched from the Republic’s blockade at the relay to deep within contested, high danger zones in the Cluster’s interior and fringe. “While it is too early to comment as to the extent of these criminal activities or the damage, potential and already realized, that has been inflicted upon the Motherland and her children, we are confident in stating that circumstantial evidence indicates there is a high likelihood that Belicaliae’s demise came at the hands of her disciples and staff. Possibly facilitated by exterior contractors. Her subordinates then proceeded to run the Circlet in her absence, likely funneling information, capital, and materiel to subversive elements within the Cluster in return for financial compensation.” stated the Lady Gincetta in a Forum address this morning. Widely viewed as a staunch supporter of the Republics' “Old Guard” and member of the de facto nobility, reactions to Belicaliae’s disappearance and probable death have been polarizing. Thousands of asari traditionalists have already paid their respects at the memorial shrine in Notolis Plaza and the Forums are thronged with demands for military intervention and reprisals. However countless others have taken to the net and streets, protesting the lionization of what they call an elitist and ageist whose is responsible for no small share of the Republic’s current dire straits. A massive e-banner has been illegally erected on the north face of the Lyoia Spire, depicting a likeness of Belicaliae being fed a spoonful of guns and heatsinks with the caption reading: “Just Desserts”. Thus far it has resisted Civil Guard attempts to remove it. April 2014 - Week Five 04/28/14 - MEDIC Alliance announces windfall for medical researchers via Alliance News Network The Systems Alliance Health and Medical Research Authority today announced a generous series of grants for what has been described as "the next generation of health research." "The health challenges humanity faces in the near future are unlike anything we have ever experienced," said SAHMRA Director-General Rosa Gualano. "Birth defects caused by unprecedented levels of pollution, soaring rates of cancers, epidemics of diseases we were on the brink of eradicating, millions of wounded heroes. "Without this immediate investment in cutting-edge health and medical research, the Systems Alliance faces a catastrophe in the next decade." But not everyone agrees with the Director-General. A coalition of public health advocacy groups has described the levels of funding as insignificant. Prominent surgeon Niru Ramananthan has called the grants scheme "a bandaid over a gaping wound, funded by one drop out of the Alliance's sea of credits. They could fund three times as many grants if they scuttled a dreadnought or two." SAHMRA Next Generation Grants are open to researchers across the galaxy in three categories of medical research: medical augmentation, practical first aid and advanced cloning procedures. 04/29/14 - CRIME Tayseri heist leaves C-SEC chasing leads via Westerlund News TAYSERI Local officials and C-SEC operators are baffled and on the chase today following a major heist that occurred at local Tayseri Advanced Storage, a large state-of-the-art storage building with a client base composed of many of the Citadel's more affluent citizens. The break-in was discovered this morning when a automated security systems check found numerous camera and firewall feedback loops, indicating an securities breach that occurred sometime after midnight. "As of this time, the losses are in the millions in insurance, and total item loss I can't even calculate. Entire vaults were picked clean. Priceless art, relics of pre-spaceflight civilization. It's disastrous." Said TAS president Fignek Biigs, who spoke with this reporter outside of the police line. C-SEC officials declined to comment, citing it as an ongoing investigation. 04/29/14 - BREAKING Turmoil in Shanxi following suicide attack via Alliance News Network CITY The Systems Alliance colony of Shanxi has erupted into riots overnight following a suicide bombing in a refugee camp which left seven people dead and wounded a further forty six people. The attack took place at a checkpoint leading to the Petal City Refugee Rehabilitation Centre, where a metre-deep crater marks the spot a groundcar filled with explosives was detonated in the early hours of the morning. The explosion was followed by hours of rioting, with the attack acting as a flashpoint for the camp's simmering racial tensions. "We've calmed it down," said Massimo Luogo, one of the Shanxi Colonial Police brought in to quell the riots. "Sure, we had to call in Marines for back-up, but Shanxi isn't Eden Prime. It was a bloodbath last night but we've got everyone separated. Christ, I just hope they catch the censored behind this. There are wounded kids here, for god's sake." The Alliance Intelligence Agency has identified the bomber as Rachel Zhao, a noted Drescher Times journalist with known separatist sympathies. Investigations are ongoing.Category:Cerberus Daily News Articles